Welfare Reform on the Web (October 2001): Welfare State - Overseas

THE AGE-ORIENTATION OF SOCIAL POLICY REGIMES IN OECD COUNTRIES

J. Lynch

Journal of Social Policy, vol.30, 2001, p.411-436

Article presents a series of measures of the extent to which social policies in 21 OECD countries are orientated towards the support of elderly and non-elderly population groups. In so doing, it identifies the age-orientation of social policy as a dimension of distributive politics that is not captured by other welfare state typologies, suggesting a need to develop new accounts of the development of welfare states that include the dimension of age.

CAN EUROPEAN UNION (EU) SOCIAL NGOS CO-OPERATE TO PROMOTE EU SOCIAL POLICY?

R. Geyer

Journal of Social Policy, vol.30, 2001, p.477-493

The European Union is a complex multilevel institution. At the centre of this complexity are the social NGOs, busily balancing member, national, European and international developments, interests and strategies. In this complex context structure, co-operative action is difficult to achieve even with a number of institutional similarities, and formal and informal networks. Only the most basic issues can result in significant and sustained co-operative action. They are thus unable to form the political and institutional backbone of a social policy network that might have helped to maintain the "human face" of the EU and to defend the European social model.

COMPARATIVE SOCIAL POLICY: THEORY AND RESEARCH

P. Kennett

Buckingham: Open University Press, 2001

This book explores how cross-national theory and research can respond to the challenges facing welfare. It looks at:

globalization, supernationalism and social policy;

defining and constructing the research process;

theory and analysis in cross-national social policy research;

development, social welfare and cross-national analysis;

ethnicity, gender and the boundary of citizenship.

GLOBALIZATION AND REGIONAL WELFARE REGIMES: THE EAST ASIAN CASE

I. Gough

Global Social Policy, vol.1, 2001, p.163-189

Article depicts and analyses the welfare regimes of five economically successful countries in East Asia:

Korea

Malaysia

Thailand

the Philippines

Indonesia.

It then considers the impact of the Asian financial crisis as an example of the new risks faced by exposed countries in the global economy. Concludes that, despite common, sudden and decisive macroeconomic problems, the social policy reactions have differed across the five countries, in part reflecting variations in their welfare regimes.

THE PUZZLE OF DUTCH WELFARE STATE RETRENCHMENT

C. Green-Pedersen

West European Politics, vol.24, 2001, p.135-150

Article argues that due to the power of the Christian Democratic Party (CDA) as a pivotal centre party, the Labour Party (Pvd A) was at an early stage forced to accept welfare state retrenchment. A party consensus thus emerged allowing Dutch governments to define the issue of welfare state retrenchment as a matter of economic necessity.

SOCIAL MOVEMENTS, WELFARE AND SOCIAL POLICY: A CRITICAL ANALYSIS

G. Martin

Critical Social Policy, vol.21, 2001, p.361-383

It is argued that New Social Movement (NSM) theory may illuminate contemporary welfare struggles. A major drawback of NSM theory is its tendency to ignore issues of material redistribution and structural inequality and this ultimately prevents it from considering welfare struggles in any meaningful way. A critical social policy, on the other hand combines both issues of redistribution and social recognition which tend to coexist, in varying degrees, in all social movements. It is suggested that Taylor's work on women's self-help movements might inform future research into collective action in social policy because it provides an example of how movements that are chiefly cultural and geared towards a politics of identity can challenge and may transform social policy.

WELFARE THEORY: AN INTRODUCTION

T. Fitzpatrick

Basingstoke: Palgrave, 2001

Book provides a comprehensive and straightforward introduction to the theoretical issues and key concepts of social policy. It focuses on issues of equality, liberty, citizenship, key political concepts, welfare ideologies, new social divisions, recent economic developments and recent theoretical developments.

WOMEN AND WELFARE: THEORY AND PRACTICE IN THE UNITED STATES AND EUROPE

N.J. Hirschmann and U. Liebert (eds.)

London: Rutgers University Press, 2001

This book contains a selection of essays on social welfare from a feminist viewpoint. It includes writings by a variety of experts and covers law, comparative politics, sociology, economics, cultural studies, philosophy and political theory.